The Greatest Showman, aka Shark Tale the Musical

 

So, I’m sure you remember my first story had me comparing Shark Tale and Chicken Little, I said that I consider the former a guilty pleasure, and I still stand by that. However, I also stand by the fact that the main plot is terrible and Oscar is a terrible protagonist. The movie tells the typical rags to riches story very poorly. A lot of movies told the rags to riches story a lot better, in fact, one movie that came out 13 years later, told this kind of story better, and that movie is my all-time favourite musical movie, The Greatest Showman. Now maybe I’m biased because I love this movie so much, especially because it reminds me of the time I went to see Hugh Jackman in concert with my mom, and he actually saw me and my poster, I had never been so happy. Last Christmas, I even got to attend a sing along screening of the movie, it was so much fun! Anyway, I’m getting off topic.

The Greatest Showman has a similar plot to Shark Tale, a down on his luck guy wishes for a better life, he goes to extreme lengths to make it happen, the fame gets to their heads, resulting in disastrous consequences, including losing the girl that always loved them before they became famous (heck, there’s even a bit where a woman kisses the protagonist and it makes the news), the protagonist realizes the error of his ways and earns the respect of his girls back. I will explain today why and how PT Barnum (at least the movie Barnum) is a better protagonist than Oscar and why Showman tells a better rags to riches story than Shark Tale ever could.

Poor Kids

The protagonists of both movies grew up “poor” were bullied for it and it’s what drives them to do what they end up doing. There is a difference however. Oscar was bullied as a child for admiring his dad’s “dead end” job as a tongue scrubber, however that doesn’t exactly justify or make the audience sympathize with his selfish and annoying behaviour, he complained about nobody liking him even though his co workers seem to like him and he is seen to be popular, everything he did was for his own gain, to the point of scamming his boss for get rich quick schemes, putting him in debt for 5 grand, and even whether he’s rich or poor, he’s still the same character. Barnum on the other hand, we actually see why he looks for money. He and his father lived in poverty, his mother seemingly passed away sometime ago since we never see her, the rich snob his father tailored him for treated him like dirt, and forbade him from seeing his daughter Charity just because he made her laugh when she was learning how to properly drink tea (him making her laugh caused her to spit out her tea and get her dress a bit wet), his father died leaving him alone and homeless, to the point where he resorted to stealing bread to survive like Aladdin or maybe Jean Valjean (actor reference), spent most of his life in between jobs trying to make ends meet and even when he became an adult, Charity’s father dismissed him as a nobody. While Barnum goes down a similar path that Oscar goes on, it was a bit more understandable and did want to make a better life for his family, and he was shown to be very loving towards his wife and two daughters Caroline and Helen.

Exploitation

The protagonists of both movies sometimes lied or exploited things to make money and be famous. Oscar had done so without any second thoughts or hesitation, he lied about being a sharkslayer and exploited Frankie’s death and even Lenny in order to gain money and fame and had no regard for anyone at all, even when it seemed like he cared about Lenny, he didn’t, he took advantage of his problem to talk him into helping (it would’ve been a bit better if he resorted to more blackmail to get Lenny involved, since it did happen too quickly) I still can’t understand why these two were friends!! Read my Low Point article to see more about that.

While Barnum did kind of exploit the circus members for their differences and was initially doing it to make money, he did show to care for them too, he gave the “freaks” a home and a family, he willingly brought the crew with him and Phillip when the latter arranged for them to meet the queen only if everyone went. Plus, when Phillip laid eyes on Anne Wheeler, Barnum seemed to have noticed that and willingly played matchmaker when he introduced Anne and WD to Phillip. Plus, he might have given Phillip and Anne a chance to see a show together since the former was nervous that she wouldn’t come, (although maybe it was Phillip who got the tickets), even though it backfired due to Phillip’s snobby parents getting in the way. Once he quit his tour with Jenny Lind, he did make sure everyone was safe when the building caught fire and when he saw that Phillip was inside the building, he went in to get him out. This went to show that even though he did exploit everyone for money, he did show to make a difference (he was inspired to have the “freaks” perform when a “strange” woman gave them an apple when he was homeless) for outcasts, he even had his daughters help him find them. 

Fame And Fortune

Both stories have a point where the fame gets to the protagonist’s heads much to the dismay of their girls. The difference between them is that one stayed the same while the other one went through a believable change.

Like I said before, Oscar never really changed when he became famous, as one of my favourite YouTube reviewers Jambareeqi said it best when he reviewed the film. he described it as a douchebag becoming a famous one rather than a down on his luck man being corrupted by fame. He was still a selfish guy even when he was poor, he still bet the money he got from Angie’s pearl, ripped off his boss, and was stupid enough to fall for a gold digger who admitted she was superficial and when he becomes famous, he’s still the same, maybe more arrogant and him losing respect from Angie felt confusing, why does she even love him?! He didn’t care about her at all and never took the subtle hints and clues that she loved him, because he’s too selfish to see that, as AniMat said in his review of the movie, and like I said before, he was selfish enough to bet her pearl money he was supposed to use to get out of debt, she should’ve left him after that!

Barnum did let the success of Jenny Lind’s singing get to his head, he even pushed the circus crew and Phillip aside before the performance to look good, and it lead to him ignoring what Phillip said to him about the circus and the protestors and when Barnum decides to go on tour with Jenny Lind, (he stole money from Charity’s bank account for said tour) and he doesn’t even acknowledge his performers, and it also leads to him neglecting his wife and daughters, missing out on Caroline’s ballet recital or a family dinner food fight. Heck, before he leaves for his tour, Charity asks when it will ever be enough for him and he doesn’t really listen which leads to Charity singing Tightrope, showing her conflicted feelings. However, even with that, he still cared about his family, he got too caught up in the success, heck there’s even a bit in one of the trailers where it shows him hug his daughters goodbye before he left, showing he is still a good father.

Kiss

Now for a coincidence, there’s a part where the protagonist gets kissed by someone and it makes the news and angers the love of their lives.

There’s a bit in Shark Tale where after the fake fight between Oscar and Lenny, Lola comes up to the former to kiss him in front of the camera for fame purposes, Angie sees it on television and gets really upset and yells at him for it later. While I did love seeing Angie finally call Oscar out for his behaviour, I do feel a little annoyed because again, why does she love him?! She should’ve figured out sooner how stupid and selfish he was, he was stupid to see that Angie loves him (everyone figured it out before he did, Sykes, Lola and even Lenny did, minutes before Angie confessed that she loved him, showing he did have the brains his dad said he had), she mostly makes the situation about her and not a lot about Oscar’s new life being shallow and for his lies (though to be fair, she did call him out for lying to her and everyone a couple of scenes ago), making her a bit self centered herself, though I do love that bit where Lenny comforts her later, that was sweet, and this should’ve shown he should’ve been the guy for her.

In The Greatest Showman, there’s a bit where when Barnum is on tour with Jenny, they get great reviews and Barnum feels successful, soon he decides to leave and let Jenny finish the tour on her own, leaving Jenny upset and feeling betrayed. While she did have an understandable reason to be upset, he did kind of use her for fame, but I can’t feel bad for her because she was falling for him, when she knew full well, he had a wife and two daughters!! Barnum may have gotten caught up in the fame but he was still loyal to his family and was not willing to cheat on Charity for success. As revenge, Jenny kisses him for the newspapers to see, it doesn’t take long for it to make the news, ruining his reputation. When he finds out what Jenny did, he tried to go to Charity and she was mad at him. She was upset about the kiss but when he told her he wasn’t in love with her, she revealed that she knew that and all he was in love with was him and his show, caring more about his fame and fortune than the ones he loves, which was a reasonable and justified response.

Consequences and Reconciliation

Both protagonist’s actions had really bad consequences as well, they both fixed them, but one of them did it right while the other did it wrong and one deserved a happy ending while the other didn’t.

Oscar’s lies had serious consequences, he ended up putting his friends and the reef in serious danger, because of his lies. Upon calling himself the Sharkslayer, it caused the sharks to come looking for Lenny since he ran away after his brother’s death because he felt unloved and get revenge on Oscar, resulting in frightened citizens and Angie getting kidnapped. Oscar was not only too cowardly and stupid to consider the consequences of his actions but even when he tries to “fix” the problems he does idiotic things like him and Lenny (oddly) faking the latter’s death even though Oscar knew full well that Don Lino was mad at him for “killing” Frankie and he should’ve figured that if he “killed” Lenny he’d be even more mad! Plus, when Angie got kidnapped by the sharks, while he does intend to rescue her (even though at this point it’s too little, too late for that, and his redemption seems forced) he still acts like a dick, during the sit down, he intimidates the shark, acts like an idiot and has Lenny trap Angie in his mouth (stupid since he knew Lenny was a vegetarian) only for that to backfire because he acted like a moron! All those “good deeds” he did were for selfish reasons and he somehow got rewarded for it! That’s dumb!! And Oscar getting the girl and the Whale Wash was undeserved and unbelievable!

Barnum’s actions did have severe consequences, his absence lead to having Phillip having to deal with more protestors harassing him and the circus. It got so bad that it lead to the circus crew and protestors getting into a huge fight, which lead to the building catching fire, where Phillip almost died, not only that but his absence caused his family to get evicted from their house and nearly lose them in the process.  Barnum did sulk afterwards and try to drown his sorrows, but the circus crew helped him see the good he had done for them, he gave them a family and that was what gets him to get up again, where he reflects on what the fame turned him into but then remembers why he was doing it, he was doing it for his family. This leads to the musical number, “From Now On,” where he vows to never let over ambition and fame get to his head. When he goes to apologize to Charity he does look very remorseful about it, you see him a bit emotional. This redemption feels believable, once he does open up a better circus, he willingly withdraws from the circus and hands the ringmaster title to Phillip so he can be with his family, and watch his girls grow up, showing how much he truly loves them and has become a better man. This is more proof that Barnum is better than Oscar!

 

In conclusion, while Oscar the fish and PT Barnum are similar with their motivations and consequences for their actions, but in terms of how their characters are executed, there was a big difference. Oscar was the perfect example of how to not make a rags to riches story, and also how not to make a movie protagonist (stay tuned that might be my next story) while Barnum manages to be more likable and sympathetic even when he does questionable things, and that’s why The Greatest Showman is Shark Tale (mostly Oscar’s story) done just right!

Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts about this comparison? Feel free to comment!